by Joan Inong

Created on: December 23, 2008

As you may have heard over and over again, "Time is money." Cooking at home saves you both: you don't have to waste time waiting in line or trying to find a place to eat, and you don't to spend extra money on service that you could have performed yourself. Many people believe that cooking at home takes more time and more effort, but I think that the effort is well worth it.

When you want to make something at home, you first have to think about the ingredients that you will need. Usually, if you choose a recipe that uses ingredients that you already have in your pantry, you will save both time and money. If you don't have many of the ingredients, choose recipes that use similar ingredients. That way, you won't have to buy a whole lot of different things just to make a few recipes. Store your ingredients in an organized fashion; in fact, if you separate your cabinets into specific categories, you will save the time that you spend looking for your ingredients.

When you begin to cook, make sure that all of your needed ingredients are out. You should not have to look through cabinets and the refrigerator during the time that you are preparing your food. Have everything out and chop, slice, or dice all the ingredients, as required. When you start using them, you won't have to stop to chop one thing and slice another. Everything will be prepared and ready to use.

Once you have finished making your recipe and it has cooled thoroughly, then it's time to either serve it or put it away. I find that serving food buffet style helps eliminate extra dishes. If you and your family don't care much for fancy serving during regular weeknight dinners, then serving food buffet style makes sense. Otherwise, you can use an extra dish and take the extra time to clean it up. If you are putting your food away, make sure that you are using an airtight container. If it's not completely airtight, then the food will go bad faster. Prevent wasting food (and having wasted your time cooking) by putting away your food the right way.

You don't have to stop cooking during the week. You can use leftover food to make easy weeknight dinners. For instance, if you made marinara sauce on the weekend, then you can use it again in various dishes. I like making things during the weekend that I know I can probably reuse again. It helps me cut down on my ingredient purchases, and I don't have to spend extra time making that part of the recipe again.

Cleanup is easy when cooking at home if you know exactly what to do. All you have to do is wait until all the dishes are ready to be washed, and then wash them all at once. Organization of ingredients is also key to easy cleanup; for instance, if you use one large plate to hold all the prepared ingredients, then you'll only have to wash one plate instead of washing five small ones.

So, if you think that cooking at home isn't for you, think again. It'll save you time and money, and you'll enjoy the feeling of having extra padding in your wallet.

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